(500) Days of Summer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel make for a memorable screen couple in Marc Webb’s funny and truthful romantic comedy. Gordon-Levitt plays Tom, a greeting card writer who falls in love with the non-committal Summer Finn (Deschanel). The film depicts, out of order, the days of their difficult romance when Tom is much more determined to be with Summer than Summer is to be with him. Some movies could depict their situation as a total nightmare, but this one takes a realistic approach that is often funny as well as sad. Characters learn some important lessons while the audience is entertained by the dynamic between the leads. The film does give more karaoke singing time to Gordon-Levitt than Deschanel, and that’s a little unfortunate, but forgivable.